Trip in the Road
by Iba
Summary: Ash hijacks Misty via road trip.


1. Day One

Misty was mopping the floor as she sighed at the thought of a vacation. Thoughts of the beach were eroding her imagination, but she quickly shook them off. She knew it wasn't going to happen. She peered over to her two out of three older sisters, Daisy and Lily, who were sitting from afar, flipping through magazines. Why was she always the responsible one? In fact, why was she always pushed to do all this work? Even though she wanted to be the world's best water Pokemon trainer and taking care of her water Pokemon gym brought her dream closer, it wasn't fair that she barely received any help. It was as if she was playing the role of Cinderella.

That was until _that_ happened. Misty was too focused on her work even though she heard the main entrance's door open and shut. She figured her sister, Violet, would answer. It was probably another trainer looking for a gym battle.

"Misty!" called out her sister's voice. "Your boyfriend's here!"

Misty stopped mopping almost violently enough to break her mop. She turned towards her sister with a red face and saw her and a boy walking towards her happily.

Ash.

"We're not—"

Ash said cheerfully, "We're the best damn boyfriends on the world!"

…

She wanted to sharpen the end of her mop and stab him with it.

Anyway, Violet, surely amused, left them both alone. Misty clamped her mouth shut as she angrily continued mopping, hoping it (her anger or her "boy"friend; either would work) would go away.

"So, Misty!" Ash said, waving.

"…What," she said in her most unenthusiastic voice without looking up, but then Ash grabbed onto the mop, halting Misty's busy work to get her attention. He stuck his face in hers. She watched his lips pronounce the next words that came out of his mouth.

"You. Me. Road trip."

2.

Misty questioned why Ash chose only her to go on this road trip. Ash said Brock was busy… trying to get into one of those dating shows. Tracey was on a top-secret mission from Professor Oak and currently wasn't at the lab. Gary may have lived closeby, but that didn't mean he was acceptable either. Apparently he was too sexy for him, Ash retorted as he reminisced how Gary kept bragging on how better he was to the point Ash gave up on arguing back. Ash learned it would, obviously, be a waste of his time. He got the point a little too well.

"So I figured since your sisters are 'annoying as hell'," Ash made bunny ears to emphasize that these were Misty's words. Ash obviously never dealt with sisters, much less a sibling in general, "I have decided, being the Pokemon Master that I am, to rescue you. You may now give me another badge."

Sometimes Misty wondered if Ash ever listened to himself talk. He can be just as worse as Gary.

But Misty just sighed as she sat back on the passenger, leather and holey seat of Ash's truck. Ash just got his driver's license and was rewarded with this red dewzy. Ash didn't argue (well, he did when he got it), but instead said it was like Pokemon training: keep encouraging the truck to work and it'll work out. This motto actually stuck with Ash well because he got attached to it to the point he named it Sweet Marie. Why he chose that name was beyond them.

Not to mention that besides being stuck with a crummy car, she was stuck with a crummy driver. It was like driving with a shit on a stick. This shit on the stick made her carsick, which made her wonder why she agreed to this.

Oh, that's right. She was forced to. Even though she was one year older than this seventeen-year-old, she could still be pulled out of her home by this… by this moron.

Misty almost forgot. "So where are we going anyway?" she questioned, and as if on cue, Ash's dying cell phone rang. Lately it just seemed like everything the boy had was as weird as him. He answered it and soon after he hung up.

"We," he said as he clutched the steering wheel and smiled really big, "are going to my house."

3.

Real quick was the plan.

Ash's mother was the one who called. Misty didn't have a problem with Delia at all. Yet seeing how she's a mother and all, Misty wondered how she could stand having such a boy run around in the world without a clue on what's going on. She didn't bother to investigate, though.

"Hi, Mom!" Ash said as he ran in. Misty followed. Delia was cooking something up in the kitchen. She turned around at Ash.

"Ash, you're lucky that I'm here or else you would've been traveling with only the clothes on your back," she said as if she was proud of herself. Ash pity-laughed at himself, clearly embarrassed. This wasn't new. He was only registered to think about one thing and forget the rest no matter how important.

"Mr. Mime is upstairs and he packed for you. Check to see if everything's all set," she called as he ran upstairs. Mr. Mime was probably smarter than Ash. Maybe Mr. Mime could even drive better than Ash… well, that was probably going a little too far. Most likely nobody in the Ketchum family can drive well.

That made Misty wonder why she's entrusting her life to Ash's driving.

Misty was standing there. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what was going on exactly. Where were they even going? Delia supposedly sensed this because she started talking.

"Make sure he changes his underwear everyday."

Um, what.

Soon after, Ash came stumbling down the stairs with a backpack. He grabbed Misty's arm and ran out after saying goodbye to his mom. He almost ran Misty into the wall, next to the door.

Oh, boy.

4.

"They see me rollin'; they hatin'," Ash sang as he noticed Misty glaring at him and his driving.

"Where are we _going_?" she questioned.

"That," Ash said as he raised an index finger like he was going to say the most informational thing ever, "is a surprise."

The more you know.

"Are you _serious_?" Misty almost rose from her seat, but Ash ran over a pothole and she bashed her head against the roof. "DAMMIT!" Ash sunk back in his seat, shoulders hunched, trying not to laugh as he drove.

"Pull over. Now."

"Whaaat?" Ash whined. "You're not giving up on me already, are you?"

"_Ash Ketchum, pull over Sweet Marie right. Now. I don't want to go on your little field trip."_ Nor did she want to make sure Ash changes his underwear everyday. As if she was even going to in the first place.

Ash sighed and did what he was told because of the fact nearby there was a restaurant. He figured she needed something to eat. Surely enough, Misty stomped her way into it. Ash wondered if this was the real reason why she wanted him to pull over.

Ash sighed as he got out of the truck and closed the door, gently, that is. He wished Misty didn't slam hers. No automobile deserved such treatment, especially sweet ol' Sweet Marie. He adjusted the cap on his head and shoved his hands into his jean pockets. The sun was setting, and the humid air was getting cooler when he walked in the restaurant. There were a few people in there, not too many, though, but he quickly noticed Misty's ponytail sticking out from one of the booths. He sat down across from her. The crimson seats were squishy.

"Whatcha eating?" She was eating rice, he saw.

A grunt rose from her throat as she ate.

Ash sat back and stretched. "All righty."

Soon after, he caught a waitress and ordered food, and as he waited, they both sat in silence. This wasn't cool.

"So, are you really serious about this?" Ash asked. He was expecting the whole thing to be a joke, that she was just being a sour puss, but since Misty was trying to pull a world record of the silent treatment, he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Misty? Misty! Helloooooo, Misty! MISTY!" Ash shouted louder and louder and dramatically threw his cap at the window right next to their booth and smashed his head on the table, faking sobs. After a while he sat up and noticed he had stuck himself onto a wet table. Apparently someone spilled their orange juice earlier and nobody cleaned it up or at least did a good job trying to. It looked like someone peed on Ash's face and on his white t-shirt. "Oh, WHY HAS GOD FORSAKEN ME?" He screamed out, serious this time.

"Shut up, Jesus Christ!" Misty said as she dug her head in her hands as the other customers looked at their direction. Ash stopped and had this huge smile on his face, forgetting the mess on him.

"Score one for Ash!" he said happily. Misty looked up from her hands to Ash and started laughing.

"God, you look like a douche," she said as she shook her head. "And you're going to get us kicked out."

"So are you in?" Ash said, clearly ignoring her. "I am _stoked_." Again, his appearance could say otherwise.

"Whatever," she admitted. This answer was much more acceptable than the silent treatment. In fact, it made Ash so happy he grabbed his hat. Then he grabbed her arm again, dropped some money, and ran out of the place. Once he thinks about one thing, he forgets about the rest.

The waitress with his food returned to an empty table.

5.

It was night. Sweet Marie was parked near a forest. It was peaceful except for the fact Ash and Misty were arguing about sleeping out.

"Well, we're not technically sleeping outdoors," Ash explained as he gestured his hands in a way to show that the inside of the truck was the most beautiful place he stepped in. "We're sleeping in this lovely shelter of a truck."

"Pfft, yeah right," Misty said. There was a hole in the freakin' roof for god's sake. She sighed as she peered out the window. "I wish we could sleep in a hotel or something. To get some privacy."

"Look, we're just going to sleep, okay? Stop making a big deal out of everything," Ash said as he grabbed a blanket and took off his hat.

Misty really wanted to mug Ash at the moment, but she was too tired to. She pulled a blanket over her body, curled into fetal position, and tried to get comfortable on the leather seat. It took a while till she finally fell asleep.

A few hours later she woke up. It was still dark.

Yet something concerned Misty.

At first she thought she was seeing things. This was no joke, though. There was something on Ash's face. And it was moving. She stared at it until her eyes widened. She knew what it was.

There was a tarantula crawling slowly on Ash's cheek.

She slammed her back to the door of the truck and looked around to notice a baseball bat at the back of the truck. She reached for it. She gripped the bat so tight that her knuckles turned white. The inside of the truck was cramped, so she held it like a pool stick. She was wide-awake by now.

And programmed to exterminate.

Unfortunately for Ash, Misty wasn't paying any actual attention to him and just jabbed the bat in his face so hard it felt like his teeth were about to fall out.

Ash shouted and felt the spider on his face. The bat repeatedly stabbed him in the face, and it actually got him in the eye. He kept screaming, and the spider plopped off, but it wasn't dead. This activated Misty to screech (shattering Ash's hearing-great! Now he was going blind AND deaf) and just repeatedly hit everything with the bat, including Ash. She ended up throwing the damn thing and dashed out of the car, still screaming.

She ran and stopped. She bent her knees and wrapped her arms around them. She was jittery as hell as she was panting. She could care less about sleeping or how cool the air was beating against her exposed skin (she wore jean shorts and short-sleeved shirt). She would do anything to get away from bugs to the point it seemed like she was able to gain super powers out of fright. Hell, she would even take off her clothes now because for all she knew there were bugs on _her_.

She felt like digging her own grave.

Not too far away, the sound of opening and closing a door was heard. Then the sound of someone walking on grass was getting louder and louder in her eardrums.

"I killed it," Ash declared.

But Misty wasn't going to take any chances. When Ash was about to walk closer, she demanded him to stop and check if there were any more bugs in the truck or even on him. Damn, she felt jittery.

"Misty. I promise. I've checked _everywhere_. I know how you are," Ash said. He sounded hoarse yet sleepy. "Now—can you please come back?"

"No!" She gripped her arms tighter around her knees and felt like rocking back and forth. She felt like a child. "I am NOT going back in that—that—THAT THING."

She heard him moan.

"I… don't think you have a choice," Ash revealed. He paused as he touched his right eye as if for clarification. "I think I need to go see a doctor."

No pun intended.

6.

Misty was laughing, ironically sadly. "_Holy god._ I am _so sorry_."

Ash looked like someone just beat the crap out of him. He had a black eye, his nose was bleeding, the side of his mouth was swollen, and in other places it didn't exactly feel like Christmas. Not to mention he was still wearing that orange juice-stained shirt, which made it looked like he was peed on. When Misty was set to do something, a baby could die.

Dead babies aside, they were allowed to stay the night at the hospital, and Ash was lucky that he wasn't blind. But there was something that bothered Misty.

"Um, Ash?"

Ash's head was tilted back with a tissue in his nostril as his hand pressed an ice pack on his eye. "Huh."

"The road trip?"

"Huh?"

Misty couldn't tell if he was dazed or just being clueless.

"Isn't the road trip canceled?" she repeated with a punch of clarification. She sounded a bit irritated.

Ash took the ice pack away from his eye; he looked at Misty with shock written all over his face. "Huh! Why? What makes you think that?"

Misty felt like being sarcastic. "Well, it doesn't help that you really have one eye to look at the road with. Not to mention your body probably can't handle driving a truck, and, I dunno, WE SHOULDN'T?"

Ash started laughing. "I can handle _anything_!" he said in a boyish voice as he flexed a muscle from his arm and grabbed it with his other hand. "Why are you being so grumpy and, and…" he faked a gasp as he looked at her (she was glaring at him) with wide eye. "What is this! You don't _believe_ in me?"

Misty felt like he was mocking her.

"Good night." She walked out of the patient room and slammed the door. She needed sleep.

7. Day Two

They were on the road again. And Misty was alert as ever. She kept shrieking when Ash made a slight oddity in his driving as she was pressing the ice patch on his eye. What else could such a good friend do to repay after having killed a tarantula?

As far as they knew, they had no idea where they were. In fact, they were practically in the middle of nowhere.

"Ash!" Misty shrieked.

"Yes?" Ash shrieked back.

"Are we lost?" She hated when they were lost. They always blamed one another whenever they were during their Pokemon journeys. Good times.

"No we're not!" he replied loudly. They were.

"Stop the freakin' car or else I'll jam this ice pack in your eye!" See? Such a good friend indeed. Ash halted the car, and immediately after, the car turned off itself.

"What the deuce?" Ash shouted. He turned the key in the ignition and tried to get it to start again. He kept trying again and again.

"Are we out of gas?" Misty asked. She looked at their environment. There was nothing at all. In fact it just looked like there was a bunch of sand. And it was very hot. Misty pressed the ice pack on her.

"I hope so," Ash muttered. Despite the fact Ash had a black eye, he looked desperate and morose to her. This troubled Misty. She looked away and all of a sudden felt weird. Down there. Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Shit. No, not _now_. How humiliating.

"Um, Ash," Misty said as she pressed her legs together and gulped. Ash practically had given up on the truck, deciding that it just needed gas. He was sitting back, looking like the wind was knocked out of him.

"Huh." He sounded numb. Must be the heat.

"Can you hand me your backpack, please?" she asked. Hopefully Mr. Mime can prove how smart he was. He handed it to her. She rummaged through it.

Mr. Mime, you're such a failure.

"Man, I am so hungry," Ash grumbled. Now that he mentioned it, she was, too. But "this" was more important.

"Ash."

"What?"

"I'm bleeding."

Ash slowly turned his head over at her, examined her. He appeared quizzical. "… Where?"

She glanced down and then leered intensely at him. Hopefully he got the message.

"… Oh."

8.

Here was the game plan: call Delia, get a ride from whoever nearby her has a car, get Sweet Maria towed, and last but not least, get Misty a pad or a tampon or _whatever_ she used. Hopefully Mom won't freak about his face. Hopefully this road trip won't be over.

God.

Misty was in the car, watching Ash pace back and forth outside while on his cell phone.

Ash tried to call his mom, then Professor Oak, then Brock, and then Gary. Either his phone was dead, there was no reception, or everyone was doing a shitty job answering his or her phone. Whatever it was, Ash threw his cell phone far out of nowhere and cursed. Misty watched him sink down to sit on the sand with his knees up to his chest, his back at her. Misty sat in the car, watching him for like five minutes until Ash got up and got back in the driver's seat. He tried starting the car in silence. Misty knew Sweet Maria won't respond.

Again, they sat there in silence.

"I'm sorry," Ash blurted. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you into this stupid road trip. God, I am such a moron."

It was quiet again until Misty responded, "You're right. You shouldn't have. You can be so impulsive, you know? I mean, you like, grabbed me by the arm three times yesterday." She chuckled a bit at that fact, but then she was quiet again. She had a smile as she looked at Ash "But… you know. I wouldn't have been able to escape my sisters then. Even if we were properly equipped, I wouldn't have gone with you anyway. So. Um." She looked away, feeling a slight flush under the high temperature. "Thank you."

Ash was slumped against his seat, staring out at an area across from him until an idea hit. He took his backpack and put it on. He got out of the car and went over to Misty's side. He told her to take down her ponytail, and after she did, he put his cap on her. Then Ash hoisted her into his arms as she was protesting.

"Ash, what are you _doing_?" she yelled, irritated.

"There's no way I'm gonna sit here all day, or hell, forever, and no way I'm leaving you here alone while I try to find help!" Ash said through gritted teeth. Misty didn't say anything. Sure, this whole situation was stupid, but when Ash was determined, he was determined.

Like how she was with killing spiders.

Misty was still holding onto the ice, well water, pack and pressed it on Ash's face as he was walking. She pressed her head against his chest. He was wearing a different t-shirt today, a yellow t-shirt. They were both hungry. In fact, Ash was probably hungrier than her since he just ran out of restaurant like that yesterday. She started laughing.

"Huh?" Ash looked down at her.

"It's funny," she said. "Your mom told me yesterday to make sure you change your underwear everyday." Ash blushed as he looked up. "Really, though… just… oh god." She continued laughing and wondered whether or not she was crazy. "Ironic."

Ash didn't know what to say, so he faked a laugh and said, "Yeah."

Misty decided to shut up and let him walk without feeling uncomfortable.

9.

They actually got somewhere. Kind-of.

Well, it was more like they found something. Like water. And plants.

Ash set Misty down by the pond and stretched. He felt like he was on a diet. A _starvation_ diet. He lied down on the ground as his stomach started growling like a bear.

"I think I'm going to die!" Ash groaned as Misty was splashing water on her face. His hat was on the ground next to her.

"You won't die, Ash. The only way you can die is by me," she said. She sure sounded proud about that.

He eyed her. Her red hair was up to her shoulders and framed her freshly cleansed face. Her by the water, like a natural. Where an experienced water Pokemon should be. Ash felt something, but he quickly pushed the feeling away. He sat up.

"You know what, Misty?" he said. He grabbed a bunch of grass. "Dare me to eat this?"

Misty raised an eyebrow. "What are you? A cow?" Ash just nodded. "Are you serious?"

"FINE. THEN I'LL DARE MYSELF!" he declared and shoved the grass in his mouth and chewed uneasily.

"Ash, may I borrow your underwear?" she asked as he was eating. He almost choked. He quickly turned at her.

"I'm going to take a bath and I need to change," she explained. She glared at him. "And you better don't peek," She put up a fist, "or else I'll kill you."

Wasn't she just asking if she could borrow his underwear?


End file.
